Match Report
Sussex Senior Cup - 2nd Round
 Horsham YMCA 3 Russell 3 Davies 31 Moore 78 |
 Saltdean 1 Jordan 61 (pen) |
Date: 30th November 2004 Location: Gorings Mead
Source: West Sussex County Times
YM SIDE-STEPPED a,banana skin on a freezing cold Tuesday night when they beat Saltdean United in the second round of the Sussex Senior Cup.
Goals from Ali Russell, Steve Davies and Clinton Moore secured a path into the last-16 at the expense of their Division 2 oppo¬nents, but YM manager John Suter believes there is still room for improvement.
"We are not playing well at the moment," said the Gorings Mead boss. "We could have had a lot of goals but we did not play any clinical football. They were not a good side, a good side would have punished us."
Such a damning verdict might seem odd considering YM won 3-1 and are currently coasting away at the top of the league - they are ten points clear - but Suter is clearly worried about his side's form.
Granted, the win over Saltdean was hardly inspiring, but the result is all the matters in cup football and it certainly beat watching Sophie Anderton making an idiot of herself on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
"It was nice to have a victory after Saturday's loss to Rye, but we need to put it in perspective.
Beating a poor second division team is not conclusive," added Suter.
On a frozen evening, the YM players, decked out in their white shirts, often looked like snowmen rolling a snowball between themselves on the frosty white floor.
But it was not too often that their passes reached their intended target”.
However, they managed to string together a nice move which brought about the opening goal in the third minute. Gary Bidwell played the ball down the line to Davies who cut inside and rolled the ball back to Russell. The bulky striker, who had a decent game, expertly finished past Ashley Walker.
Joel O'Hara, who was later awarded the GLS man of the match award, nearly doubled the score ten minutes later but Walker pushed away his shot.
The out-of-sorts Matt Duffield missed a great chance moments later as YM pushed for a second and O'Hara might have done better when the impressive Walker made another good stop.
"You're not very good," shouted YM sponsor,Vjctor Gladwish, although it wasn’t clear if his remarks were directed at the home side's mis-firing forwards or the under-par opposition.
However, YM finally scored again five minutes before the interval when Davies won the ball on the edge of the box, cut inside and fired past Walker from an acute angle.
The shaven headed Saltdean keeper made the best of a handful of excellent saves in the 53rd minute. Russell's clever turn and pass played in Duffield who shot first time but watched in awe as Walker somehow turned the ball around the post.
The game drifted until Dale Brunton caused a kafuffle following an over-zealous challenge on YM keeper Ian Chatfield. The burly Saltdean man then pushed the referee, reviving memories of Emmanual Petit's infamous shove on Paul Durkin.
The Frenchman walked that day, but Brunton was lucky to be just cautioned. Perhaps the red card had frozen tight in the referee's wallet.
Saltdean were handed a lifeline in the 61st minute when Barrie Westgate was penalised for a push on Lee Slade in the box. The decision looked harsh, but visiting captain Dan Jordan stepped up and coolly dispatched the penalty low to Chatfield's right.
With a cup shock a distinct possibility, YM poured forward in an attempt to kill off the tie. However Walker stood in their way and frustrated the hosts with good saves from Davies, O’Hara and James Grant.
But it was Walker’s blunder that sealed Saltdean's fate. Exemplary all night, the unfortunate keeper spilled the ball into the path of substitute Moore who calmly rolled home the decisive third goal
YM had chances to turn the result into a cricket score but they wasted several openings at the death, the best being squandered by Bidwell and Moore.
Sidley, who are tomorrow’s opponents, will provide stiffer resistance. Five win-draws from their last ten games is a fair return while their sloping will offer a another problem.
"It's a massive game" said Suter. "It's a very difficult fixture especially as we are not playing that well."
Team:(4-4-2):Chatfield (Garden 83), Carter. Levett; Bidwell, Potter 56), Duffield, O'Ha (Moore 74), Russell.